This week I read an interesting article from the Journal of Online Education, Uses and Potential of Wikis in the Classroom, the article focused on the changing paradigms in education from print based to orally based learning. It examined the idea that Digital Natives, students that have grown up their whole lives surrounded by technology, are inherently different from students ten to twenty years ago that sat in the same desks. The article argues that these students have different learning styles and that as educators it is our job to engage these students and to teach them based on their new learning style. The article discusses the effectiveness of bridging these gaps between Digital Natives and their teachers through the use of a wiki. “Wikis are incontestably a print-based technology, but they also encourage students to acknowledge and utilize the power of student-to-student interaction, community knowledge, and structure”(2007). The article discusses the use of wikis to create social interaction and to engage students in communicating through writing again. This reading really opened my ideas to the idea that wikis are not just tools, but instead might be part of the changing face of education, because we as educators need to catch up to our students technologically in order to effectively teach them in the classroom. I never considered the idea that Digital Natives had their own specific learning styles that are different from what has been traditionally discussed as a part of educational theory. It made me begin to think do we need to add a category to learning styles that addresses not only students who learn visually, spatially, kinesthetically, or aurally, but now students that learn through technology? I think this is the most interesting article I have come across in my search to become an “expert” in the wiki field. If you are interested in this topic the article also addresses the benefits of wikis, gives examples of using wikis in education, and talks about the issue of accuracy in wikis, which I discussed on a previous blog. All in all this is an excellent resource for educators interested in the topic.
Article: http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=258
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2 comments:
Megan,
I too liked this article. It included many of the typical uses and functions of the wiki I have been reading about recently but what I was really interested in was the shift of learning style. I have noticed that young people today like to be overly stimulated visually (for me it makes for extreme anxiety). It is nice to see that others are taking notice that students ARE different so that we teachers on the frontline can have a “heads-up” on the best teaching strategies, techniques and technology for our students (digital natives). I’m thinking too that with all this “social software” we are moving back to the “front porch” – you know -like before TV when people used to communicate – a front porch with a new design.
I would like to add – this article gives lots of terrific examples and ideas – implementing them with understanding is more difficult than writing about the possibilities – ask me how I know !
Vickie (digital immigrant #1)
Megan,
I liked your views on the article and I am glad that you see the change that makes this new age of teaching with technology more effective. It's not just the students who are changing, it's the ways of teaching and the teachers themselves! I hear the students talk about how some teachers have been just pushing for online content to make things easier for themselves and not the students. Such moves tend to hurt students' views on technology and learning rather than help them achieve better understanding. Reading through the article and your post makes me feel happy that there is better and much needed change coming our way! :-)
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